Celebrating Amtrak’s 50th +1

Celebrating Amtrak’s 50th +1! No force of nature or pandemic fears could keep Trains.com Executive Producer Kent Johnson from pressing ahead with his Amtrak victory lap across America in the summer of 2021. There’s no better way to reveal the highlights and highjinks of present-day rail travel, than to document the ride along routes of […]

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BNSF Railway earnings improve despite first-quarter volume decline

Coal train approaches with another visible in the distance

OMAHA, Neb. — BNSF Railway’s revenue and profits grew in the first quarter despite a decline in volume. The railway’s operating income rose 8%, to $2 billion, as revenue increased 10%, to $6 billion, thanks to higher revenue per carload and intermodal unit, the railroad’s parent company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported on Saturday. BNSF’s operating ratio […]

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The Trains Interview: Outgoing Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires

Norfolk Southern CEO Jim Squires retired over the weekend, passing the baton to new NS President Alan Shaw effective May 1. Squires, who became chief executive in 2015, had an eventful tenure at the helm. Under Squires’ watch, NS fended off unwanted merger advances from Canadian Pacific, pared its Triple Crown RoadRailer service amid the […]

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Track-repair error led to 2019 CN oil-train derailment

Diagram of derailment site in Canada showing location of tank cars and site of oil spill

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — A track-repair error led to a rail-joint failure, causing a 2019 derailment of a Canadian National oil train, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in its summary of a report released Friday. The Feb. 16, 2019, accident near St-Lazare, Man., led to the derailment of 37 cars of a 110-car crude […]

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BNSF train derails, catches fire in North Dakota (updated)

Black smoke rising from fire at train derailment

BURLINGTON, N.D. — Fifteen cars of a BNSF Railway intermodal train derailed early Sunday near Burlington, with some cars catching fire, closing the railroad’s Glasgow Subdivision main line just west of Minot, N.D. KMOT-TV reports that while the derailment occurred about 1 a.m., as of 3:15 p.m., the fire was still burning because firefighters were […]

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Union members protest at stockholder meeting of BNSF parent

Group of people holding picket signs outside building

OMAHA, Neb. — Railroad union members, who have been increasingly vocal about working conditions and the lack of a new contract, protested Saturday at the annual meeting of BNSF Railway parent Berkshire Hathaway, picketing and handing out leaflets outside the meeting site. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has also taken out ads in […]

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UP derailment shuts down main line in Nebraska

Union Pacific logo with Building America slogan

SHELTON, Neb. — Fifteen cars of a Union Pacific train derailed Friday evening near Shelton, Neb., temporarily closing the railroad’s main line on the Kearney Subdivision. The Grand Island Independent reports the derailment occurred about 5:45 p.m. about a mile west of Shelton along U.S. Route 30. No injuries were reported, and no hazardous materials […]

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The fate of carload traffic hinges on local service: Analysis

Let’s set aside the railroad industry’s current bout of temporary service problems and discuss something more important. Class I railroads’ local service — which ranges from OK to downright embarrassing — for years has been where the rubber meets the road. Shippers divert rail shipments to trucks when a local regularly fails to show up, […]

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Close clearance in yard led to 2019 NS conductor fatality

Photo of railcars on adjacent tracks, with notations showing details of fatal accident

WASHINGTON — A Norfolk Southern conductor killed in a February 2019 accident in Baltimore was riding on the side of a car in a close-clearance area — contrary to rules prohibiting such an action — when he was pinned between his train and a car on an adjacent track, according to a National Transportation Safety […]

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